Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

I live in a foster care situation. Have done so for most of my childhood. At the age of 16 I was happily adopted into the home I still reside in.
The hardest part of foster care for me has been dealing with other foster kids, especially the liars and thieves (which are rampant among the demographic).
One of my idiot foster brothers stole my iPad. I discovered this by using Find My iPhone and seeing that it was location at his high school (he's the only one that goes to high school, everybody else is middle school or college).
After showing him the damning evidence he finally bit the bullet and coughed it up.
However it now has dents and scratches all over it.
I take delicate care of my gadgets, and these cosmetic damages are serious in terms of trade value (had the thing up on craigslist for about a week before it went missing).
If I were to sue, what would be the legal charges?

Re: Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

I would also thing which way you flop on this matters: "everybody else is middle school or college".

If you have proof the kid stole it then try and press charges. chat with the police about it.

Then again there's also the interesting ramifications of you get for 'winning' any case. How's the family going to react, if you live there will you take flack for it, and will the family have to bear the cost of the kid going to the klink or for restitution?

Re: Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

Would could try applying some common sense... Instead of whining about your big brother.

iPad... If it is the biggest one available its a grand: $1,000
Used, it has a sale value of half that. So by all means spend $2,000 on a lawyer for a $500 item.

Does your scumbag brother that stole it even have money or a job? Even if you win in court what would it gain you?

Oh, and after you piss off the monster do you have someplace else to live so he doesn't break/steal/pawn everything else you own? Not to mention beating you up everyday and generally making your day-to-day homelife shit.

Re: Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

Posted 01 February 2012 - 11:12 AM

Though preferably one that cannot be easily wheeled away. I mean it's one thing to protect your goods but another to package them all up in one compact container that can be easily wheeled away can broken into later.

Re: Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

Posted 01 February 2012 - 11:20 AM

My aunt had all her valuable goods in a 400 lb wall safe. Someone stole it, managed to get it open, took all her good shit (and destroyed some very sentimental shit, like her late daughter's and late husband's birth and death certificates, photo albums, cards her kid made her, etc) and dumped the safe in the creek behind her house. Big and heavy != safe and secure. Bottom line, there is nothing you're going to do that will guarantee nothing will be stolen again. Unless you turn into a paranoid insomniac fruitcake, sitting at your bedroom door with a loaded gun and waiting.

Re: Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

Posted 01 February 2012 - 11:57 AM

I live in the U.S., Alaska specifically. So yes, he does have money state controlled savings account each Alaska Foster Youth gets for their annual Permanent Fund Dividend.
I was thinking small claims court. He already coughed the iPad up but its now damaged. I would be suing for the cost of repair or the inflicted depreciation due to poor ownership.

The kid isn't really liked by anybody in the house, including our father. He was placed as an emergency situation (they needed to put him somewhere until they found a permanent placement) and has continued to live with us for the last 5 months, stealing things from people, eating all of our food, being a pathological liar, and is just plain annoying to be around, especially in public.

So no I'm not concerned about ramifications. I'm just tired of being victimized by the State of Alaska. Another youth in the house stole my PS3 on my birthday, and my iPod Touch a few months later. Unfortunately I couldn't prove it but have since gotten a confession and am in the process of recovering losses.

Re: Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

Its all the fault and responsibility of the government. They brought him in... they provide the money...

Take some responsibility for yourself and your things. Lock them up.

Get together with a couple other kids that he's stolen from, throw on some ski masks (you're in Alaska for Christ's sake), and mug the wannabe hoodlum. Beat the living shit out of him every time he steals or steps out of line.

Re: Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

Posted 01 February 2012 - 12:56 PM

modi123_1, on 01 February 2012 - 01:48 PM, said:

For some reason 'A Few Good Men' comes to mind.

Well, yah... basically. There is a reason why "blanket parties" were and still are very effective. Doesn't matter if it the military, prison (where this kid is headed anyway), or the institutional environment that is the OP's home.

Straightening this kid out now BEFORE prison is about the kindest thing you can do for him.

Re: Legal Advice? Stolen Property Returned Damaged

Too much for a lawyer for such a low value item imho. Just punch him in the dick and count your losses.

Which, if he does as you advise, would be in teeth.

Listen, tlhIn`toq got the right of it: you couldn't be all that surprised about it being stolen given your description of the kid. You need to exercise a fair amount of foresight and secure it from tampering and maybe set it up so the kid can't use the damn thing (passwords are handy damned things from time to time). The kid likely took it to school to hawk for money and yeah, you could take him to small claims court and likely even get a judgement in your favor.

How you gonna collect though?

In a complete 180 from my normal attitude may I suggest this: take the tablet to him, show him the damage, tell him how his actions have affected you and see if you can't find some way to reach this kid. He obviously never developed a sense of empathy and should you explain to him that you're not going to try to exact some kind of damages from him but just wanted him to know that you know his life has been shit and not piling on for little to no good other than personal vindication wouldn't help him...he might learn something from your example.

You being cool about it (when you realistically don't have any other viable options) may set an example for behavior that may benefit him. The karma would be good for your soul as well.